Talks - Making Spiritual Progress Through Darshan

Making Spiritual Progress Through Darshan

Making Spiritual Progress Through Darshan

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
, 1999-02-27

Today Gurudeva talks about darshan, the non-verbal communication of seeing a holy man. Then he talks about cows, and what to do when your cow herd gets too big and you don't want to give the cows to a slaughter house. He talks about Hindu clothing and concludes with spiritual progress, how it is the superconscious mind gaining control of the instinct and intellect. Finally he announces the his latest book, Merging with Siva, has been printed, and is now available at book stores.

Unedited Transcript:

Today at Kauai Aadheenam; February 27th. Greetings to each and everyone in cyberspace. Our ashram doors are open. You have my darshan and I am having yours.

What is darshan? Darshan is seeing and feeling the vibrations of another person. It is a way of communication, a non-verbal way of communication that has gone down in history since, I guess, the first people were on the planet looking at each other, feeling each other and communicating in that way. Darshan can be had through looking at a picture. By looking at a picture, you are looking into the picture, through the picture and feeling the other person that the picture or the painting was taken from or made from or made for.

We have a question. The question is, "If you have a lot of cows, and they have a lot of calves, what do you do with the cows that you do not need? All the little ones running around and you don't want to raise them. You don't have enough land. You don't have enough grass. You don't have enough money to feed them. What do you do with them?"

Well, here at Kauai Aadheenam what we do is we sell them to individuals or we give them away also to individuals. But, we would never ever sell to a slaughter house. We'd never ever sell, putting the cow in a situation where we knew he was going to be killed. That is what we do. We find a new home and we re-locate the cow. Here on this beautiful island, there is a lot of land and a lot of people want cows just to mow the land. They don't want to milk them and they don't want to eat them. They just want them walking around, eating the grass so that they can look at them and watch them and appreciate them. I hope that answers your question. A fine person sent voice mail with this urgent question on it and we hope we've answered it in a 100 percent way.

Wayne is coming to Kauai Aadheenam on March 29th. We want to welcome you. He asks, "Are jeans and a collared shirt okay? Because, I do not have Hindu clothing."

We ask everyone to dress modestly when they come, because we have 27 mathavasi monks here and we want them to feel comfortable fitting in. So yes, jeans are okay and a collared shirt. That would be just fine. However, Hindu clothes are available at most Hindu stores. Look around, you might find some. Even in Edmonton, in Canada. The Hindu Temple there can tell you where to go to find Hindu clothing.

Think about darshan. You can learn a lot by darshan. Just seeing somebody who has accomplished more than you, gives you inspiration, gives you a sense of well-being, awakens your will-power that you too can succeed. Worldly success, of course, is fleeting. Spiritual success will be with you life after life after life.

What is spiritual success? Spiritual success is the control of your lower nature. Man is made up of instinctive, intellectual, superconscious being. The instinctive is the animal mind. The intellect is picked up through this life. The superconscious is the mind of the soul. The intuition, that all-seeing mind, should become the controller. The instinctive should not control. The intellect should not control. It is the superconscious, the all-seeing knowingness, that should control. The instinct and the intellect then become tools.

The new book 'Merging with Siva' is out in book stores now. It weighs about four pounds and costs about forty dollars. That makes it ten dollars a pound. It is a big book. You'll love it. It is a lifetime study. Certainly was for me, because fifty years of my teachings are all between those covers. 365 daily lessons. You can purchase it right off the internet. I really recommend it for all of you who are following 'Today At Kauai Aadheenam' and the adventures here at our Cyberspace Ashram. Most people want to merge with Siva before they dance with Siva and live with Siva. So, let's get started in 'Merging with Siva'.